Fallen Leafs

Offence/Defence

“This is something you can’t take away, ever, and it’s me doing it. My first game, I took down a 6-foot quarterback.”

~ Mina Johnson, 5-foot-2 left guard, linebacker, and nose tackle powerhouse

What is Mina Johnson’s reward for amassing four sacks in a recent football game? Why sitting out her next game against Northeast because they threatened to forfeit the game playing against a girl, of course. 

Sexism, alive and well in high school sports, too! Awesome to be living in the year 2011, isn’t it?

The Greatest Photographs of the NFL #1: The Catch

Was there any surprise to the number one greatest photograph of the NFL? Undoubtedly, one of the most recognizable events in all of sports, “The Catch” captured everthing about American football that all players, coaches, and fans came to love. In yet another topsy turvy game, the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers played a game for the ages. Though not the final play of the game (Dallas still had 51 seconds to try for a field goal and the win, but Danny White lost the football after a touchdown saving tackle of Drew Pearson on the previous play), the sequence of that play was nothing less than spectacular. With Ed “Too Tall” Jones leading the charge with two other Cowboys chasing Joe Montana for the sack, Montana rolled to his right and threw a particularly high pass to Dwight Clark in the endzone. Jumping at the highest point, Clark made the catch with his fingertips out of the outstretched arms of Cowboys defensive back Everson Walls.

Sure, the fortunes of the teams after that memorable 1982 NFC Championship game added to the legacy. A fairly unsuccessful team in the 1970s, San Francisco became the team of the 1980s and won four Super Bowls overall in that decade after beating the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1982 Super Bowl. The Dallas Cowboys, in the meantime, stumbled through several losing seasons in the 1980s and never reached the Super Bowl again until the early 1990s. The Catch was the dramatic passing of the torch from one iconic team to a new dynasty.

But “The Catch” represented more. While I appreciate a key block, cheer for a well-placed stiff arm, and respect the importance of offensive and defensive linemen as the heart of a well-built team, at the end of the day, they aren’t moments that permanently sticks in my mind. Contrasting the violent and rough nature of football, the Montana to Clark connection illustrated the grace, the awe, the unbelievable. A page out of a fairy tale, it was evidence of a “superhuman” feat when the pressure was at its peak, the greats reached down and pulled something out of nothing. Just as hockey player Bobby Orr soared through the air on his winning goal in the Stanley Cup finals, as the cliche goes, it was as if Clark was “flying” through the air.

But unlike the Orr photo that perfectly encapsulated the player, The Catch encaptured the entire game of football itself. It hearkened back to the days when we were kids playing football in the backyard and set-up that winning drive. Trailing in the last minute needing a touchdown to win the game, we each were the legendary quarterback or the heroic receiver one time or another. The Catch was that moment of our childhood to the exact tee. Montana, Clark, even the valiant effort put up by Walls - they were us in the waning afternoon days who chose to use the biggest stage for their background and re-enact the same backyard play back to us.

The Greatest Photographs of the NFL #2: The Ice Bowl

One of the greatest games in the history of the NFL was the 1967 Championship game between the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys. The legend of this game is likely not a mystery to anyone who follows football, young or old. Lambeau Field was already the shrine of football stadiums and coupled with one of the coldest game temperatures ever and late December game, the “frozen tundra” was an appropriate name for the rock-hard, slippery as ice field during that game.

So why was this game and particularly, this photograph so famous? For one, there was the picture perfect conclusion. With 16 seconds left in the game and temperatures down to a bitter 18 below zero, Green Bay’s #15 Bart Starr pulled off an unexpected quarterback sneak behind the blocks of center Ken Bowman and guard Jerry Kramer through Dallas’ defensive line and into the endzone. A game that featured ineffective running on the sheet of ice, Starr took it upon himself to end the game right then and there on third and goal. Fullback Chuck Mercein put up his hands in the endzone, not to indicate a touchdown, but to show he did not push Starr into the promised land. But it only served to add to the impact of this photo. The heroics of players on both sides of the team again played a huge factor in the closeness of this game and the dramatics of a single play.

Significant was also the fates of these two teams involved after this game. The Green Bay Packers were rightfully known as the team of the 1960s and this game cemented their standing as a dynasty. Their invincibility factor was not an exaggeration. The Packers in this place won the game before it even started. But Vince Lombardi retired the following season and the team fell on hard times after the decade closed. The Ice Bowl was the last hurrah of the Green Bay Packers and the old NFL. The Dallas Cowboys, despite still not shaking their label as “Next Year’s Team” that year, found to be a legendary team in their own right after the devastating loss. The team finally won their first championship in 1971 and accumulated the most victories of any team during the 1970s to indelibly become “America’s Team”. The rise of the Star can arguably be pinned here.

Lastly, this was the last time when the NFL Championship game was considered to be more significant than the Super Bowl. The following year, Namath and the Jets beat the Colts and legitimated the AFL as a viable league and soon thereafter, the two conferences merged. It was as if this game, this photograph, was destined to be the final shot of the changing of times in American football. It was the ultimate trench, grind it to the ground, lunchpail of a game that epitomized methodical tough football that would soon be overtaken by flamboyant stars, offensive shootouts, and glitz and glamour of television after the merger.

The Greatest Photographs of the NFL #3: One Yard Short

The final play of Super Bowl XXXIV. Also known as “The Tackle”. While there have been many jaw-dropping moments in Super Bowl history, the last play in the Tennessee Titans’ last drive of the game was arguably the most memorable one. With both teams desperate to either score or stop the ensuing catch by Titans wide receiver Kevin Dyson, St. Louis Rams linebacker Mike Jones made a last grasp tackle and prevented Dyson from scoring the potential game-tying TD and extra point attempt at the Rams one yard line as time expired. The Rams won their first Super Bowl.

Despite two high powered offenses (the Rams led the league in every major offensive statistic, while the Titans boasted dual threat Steve Mcnair and 1000+ yard RB Eddie George), the game rightly hinged upon the two teams underrated, yet effective defenses. It was only appropriate the final play came down to a defensive stop.

The immediacy, the clutch, the impact, everything that made this play significant, were all illustrated and captured absolutely perfectly by this photograph. To see the defender hold on with dear life, as the receiver’s outstretched arm desperately tries to over cross the impending goal-line was a beautiful rendition of football’s main objective: Offense versus Defense. Everyone who watched this play held their collective breaths and only reacted when this play ended. And this picture shows you why.